Indicate whether each of the following studies is an experiment or an observatio
ID: 2925584 • Letter: I
Question
Indicate whether each of the following studies is an experiment or an observational study. If it is an experiment, identify the independent variable and note any possible confounding variables. (e) A school psychologist wishes to determine whether reading comprehension scores are related to the number of months of formal education, as reported on school transcripts, for a group of 12-year-old migrant children. (f) To determine whether Graduate Record (GRE) scores can be increased by cramming, an investigator allows college students to choose to participate in either a GRE test-taking workshop or a control (non-test-taking) workshop and then compares the GRE scores earned subsequently by the two groups of students. (g) A social scientist wishes to determine whether there is a relationship between the attractiveness scores (on a 100-point scale) assigned to col-lege students by a panel of peers and their scores on a paper-and-pencil test of anxiety. (h) A political scientist wishes to determine whether males and females differ with respect to their attitudes toward defense spending by the federal gov-ernment. She asks each person if he or she thinks that the current level of defense spending should be increased, remain the same, or be decreased.
Explanation / Answer
(e) A school psychologist wishes to determine whether reading comprehension scores are related to the number of months of formal education, as reported on school transcripts, for a group of 12-year-old migrant children.
Answer: This is an Observational study, - because the psychologist is intrested whether months of formal education has any effect on reading comprehension scores, as it was reported on school transcripts
(f) To determine whether Graduate Record (GRE) scores can be increased by cramming, an investigator allows college students to choose to participate in either a GRE test-taking workshop or a control (non-test-taking) workshop and then compares the GRE scores earned subsequently by the two groups of students..
Answer: This is an Experimental study. because the students were grouped into two categories i.e., GRE test taking and non-test taking(control) gropus and then the scores were compared.
(g) A social scientist wishes to determine whether there is a relationship between the attractiveness scores (on a 100-point scale) assigned to col-lege students by a panel of peers and their scores on a paper-and-pencil test of anxiety.
Answer: This is an Observational study because attractiveness scores and anxiety scores compared for all college students.
(h) A political scientist wishes to determine whether males and females differ with respect to their attitudes toward defense spending by the federal gov-ernment. She asks each person if he or she thinks that the current level of defense spending should be increased, remain the same, or be decreased.
Answer: This is an Experimental study, because attitudes toward defense spending was studied between two groups males and females
Note:
In an Observational study all the observation or members of sample will be surveyed without affecting the members
In an Experimantal study the observations or members will be divided into groups.